November 18, 2009, 12:47PM
Ending a season on a loss is always disappointing, especially when that loss is in a post-season game.
So the Palmyra boys soccer team can hardly be blamed for being upset after falling to Hampton 2-1 in the PIAA Class AA semifinals on Tuesday night. But hopefully, the Cougars have the chance to realize what they accomplished.
This season Palmyra went 25-2 this season, going 14-0 in the Mid-Penn Keystone Division and taking the Mid-Penn championship. Along the way, the Cougars got the attention of the teams they played, even the ones that defeated them.
“We haven’t seen a quality team like that all year,” Hampton head coach Chuck Kelley said after Tuesday’s semifinals.
To give a frame of reference, Kelley’s Talbots had played Mars, the District 7 champion and the team Palmyra beat 2-1 in the state quarterfinals.
Although the Cougars did not win a district or state title this year, the seniors on the roster have both of those to their credit. Palmyra won the District 3 title last year over Fleetwood 3-2 in overtime, and the Cougars won the state championship two seasons ago with a 2-0 win over Mars. Starting with that state title season, Palmyra has won 64 of its last 79 games.
“The last couple of years [the seniors] set quite a few records and set quite a few standards,” Palmyra head coach Craig Tyrrell said. “The classes coming up have a lot to follow up on.”
Palmyra had 10 seniors who started throughout this season, and three more on the roster. Prominent among the upper classmen was forward Brett Jankouskas, who scored 23 goals and had 23 assists, including one assist in Tuesday’s semifinal.
Also standing out was goalie Josh Lineaweaver, who anchored a defense that allowed just 0.56 goals per game and recorded 15 shutouts this season. Seven of those shutouts were in a row.
But other upperclassmen made an impact on this season, often when the Cougars needed it most.
Palmyra was in danger of being knocked out of the District 3 quarterfinals by Northern when senior Zach Lee scored with 6:47 left to go in regulation. Jankouskas combined with fellow seniors Reed Kreider and Tommy Miller to score in penalty kicks for a 1-1 (3-1) win that allowed Palmyra to reach the final four of the state, instead of sitting outside of the district’s final four.
